By Rebecca Rider

rebecca.rider@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — There are things to celebrate and to work on with the release of 2016-17 school test scores.

While Rowan-Salisbury Schools managed, once again, to keep its head above water and stay off the low-performing list, the district did not show significant growth, and two additional schools fell to an F rating.

But there are some silver linings — including one local school giving the district its first A rating. However, more schools achieved an F rating this year than last year. In 2015-16, North Rowan Elementary was the only school in the county to earn such a low grade, but is this year joined by Koontz Elementary and Knox Middle schools.

According to data lists, Koontz and Knox were the only district schools to fall a letter grade. The majority of schools stayed steady with a C (15) or D (12) rating.

Four Rowan-Salisbury schools managed to change their letter grade for the better, including:

• Rowan County Early College, which jumped one letter grade to give the district its first school with an A rating.
• Landis Elementary moved up from a D grade to a C, pulling itself off the list of low-performing schools in the process.
• Faith Elementary grew from a C to a B.
• Southeast Middle grew from a D to a C.

Landis, Faith and Southeast have not had a changed performance grade in more than three years. Southeast Middle and Knollwood Elementary also crossed their names off the low-performing list this year.

However, letter grades — a combination of a school performance score and a growth score — don’t tell the whole story. Examining numerical performance scores for each school reveals a different picture.

Many schools, though they did not earn a higher letter grade, still showed improved scores over the past year. China Grove Elementary, while it did not manage to change its D grade to a C, improved its school performance grade score by seven points — from a 47 to a 54. Knollwood Elementary, Morgan Elementary, Cleveland Elementary, South Rowan High and East Rowan High all grew by five points or more.

But the numerical score also reveals exactly how much some schools are struggling, such as Koontz Elementary, whose score fell by 11 points — from a 40 to a 29, the lowest in the district — or Hurley Elementary, whose score fell by nine points, from a 50 to a 41.

To the south, Kannapolis City Schools remains a low-performing school district for the third year in a row, with five of its eight schools scoring a D, and the other three scoring Cs. Shady Brook Elementary School was the only school in the district to exceed growth expectations in 2016-17.

Among local charter schools, Gray Stone Day School in Stanly County scored a B letter grade, but did not meet growth expectations. Kannapolis Charter Academy, then in its first year, scored a D letter grade, but met growth standards.

School performance grades are a state ranking system which rely on test scores and, to a lesser extent, improvement or growth of students. According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the final grade is 80 percent test scores and 20 percent growth or improvement.

Growth expectations are determined by the state’s Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS), which examines the impact of teachers, schools and districts on the learning of their students in specific courses, grades and subjects.

A low-performing district is defined by the state as one in which the majority of schools received a low letter grade or growth standards. Low-performing schools for each district are listed in the state’s report. This year Rowan-Salisbury Schools whittled down its list of low-performing schools even further, with only 13 making the list instead of last year’s 14.

School administration is hosting a luncheon today to discuss test results. Statewide trends will be released by the Department of Public Instruction later this afternoon.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.